Geek/Writer Rambles Ignorantly About Shit

Nanners Reviews – Gotham: Red Hood

I managed to catch up to Gotham shortly after catching back up to Flash and Arrow, and while the latter two kept me excited through my binge-watching, Gotham wasn’t able to hook me in the exact same way. It’s a case of the show not being good enough yet, or having any particular direction, yet I find myself sticking around, optimistic that there’s going to be some sort of payoff to it all. A payoff I’m just not seeing yet.

This week’s episode centered on the Red Hood gang as its case of the week, and it definitely provided more entertainment than previous week’s cases, plus we got another Joker red herring. We also got to see more of Fish Mooney’s adventures on her way back to Gotham, Penguin trying to live up to Falcone and Maroni’s high opinion of his business acumen (and failing to do so), Alfred’s past coming back to haunt him and a snippet of the everlasting girl’s night out at Barbara’s.

I was relieved at the Joker red herring we got this week, it was more or less a confirmation that last week’s villain, Jerome, isn’t in fact the Joker. And honestly, I wouldn’t mind it if we only got all these red herrings instead of the actual story of Joker’s origins. I’m not keen on getting a definitive backstory for the Joker and I’m not sure the writers could pull off one worthy of the villain, I’m ultimately content with the current focus on Penguin and Gordon’s rise to fame.

Now on the matter of the case at hand, the curse of the Red Hood was rather enjoyable and gave us some fun Bullock/Gordon interactions, which I’ve come to enjoy now that we know for sure (?) that Harvey isn’t corrupt. The curse of the Red Hood proved entertaining, allowing the gents success at first but ultimately leading to their demise at the hands of another member of the gang – the last two probably should’ve taken the money and ran at the rate the group was going though. There were a few things I suppose I’ll just toss up to the curse of the Red Hood, that being the random witness who saw Destro, and the bank robbers being smart enough to plan out the robbery but not enough to properly disguise themselves.

Penguin, once having the most interesting story on this show, now arguably has the least intriguing one. Despite Falcone and Maroni both acknowledging Penguin as having a smart business mind, and Penguin knowing a great deal about Fish’s business (hence his use to Falcone and Fish’s desire to have him offed), he’s not measuring up to expectations. He’s still unable to keep the club successful and didn’t even know Maroni was Fish’s booze provider. Butch suddenly being back to his old self instead of the brainwashed pawn the show made him out to be last week was odd to boot, I guess it keeps Penguin occupied until he restarts his rise to fame.

Like most of you, Fish’s story doesn’t interest me in the least bit though I’ll admit it, unlike Penguin, she piqued my interest this week. Mainly because I wasn’t expecting her (doubt anyone was) to scoop her own eyeball out and squash it (though I can’t fathom why she did it). I’m sure it’ll somehow come across as daring and ingenious next week as she continues the journey back to Gotham. Gotham also brought back Dollmaker to the forefront as well, makes you wonder if he’ll be the final villain Gordon and Bullock have to deal with to put a wrap to this season, perhaps also concluding with the return of one-eyed Fish Mooney.

The story at Wayne Manor ultimately was the most intriguing piece this week. We got to learn more about Alfred’s past, and I’m enjoying Bruce slowly but surely becoming the man he’ll be later in life, it’s definitely a different direction than the broken down Bruce we had in Nolan’s series pre-Batman. This Bruce seems like he could eventually become the world’s greatest detective, and he’s got the apparent smarts to do it (a while to go before he can pull of the playboy by day part though). So I’m enjoying the direction they’re taking with him. Mr. Payne was a welcome (temporary) addition to the household, and I’m sure he’ll ultimately end up coming back to help Bruce against Wayne Industries after his apparent self-doubt.

We know Alfred’s not dying but with Wayne Industries board of directors coming after Bruce, I can see Gordon being occupied with protecting him through next week’s episode depending on how soon they act, Fish and Penguin on the other hand have ways to go to hook us back into their stories.